❝FINALKISSTOSEAL❞

As if all of a sudden, the air in the hospital room vanished.  The loss of oxygen made Vickie gasp, her collarbone appearing through  her skin above her chest.  Her eyes were fairly wider than when Jinki hadn't appeared in the doorway to her hospital room.

"W- What are you doing here?"  She stammered, eyes still partly dilated.

"T- To see you, o- of course."  Jinki stammered as well.  "H- How are you feeling?"

Vickie looked away.  She faced the window on the other side of the room.  "How did you know I was here?"

"I saw you at the airport."  Jinki said.  He was trying to walk to the couch, as slowly as possible.  "Didn't you see me, too?"

"I-...  N- No."  Lying was terribly difficult for Vickie to do, for she have never done anything as major as what she was lying about right now.  She hoped it was for the best.

"Oh."  Jinki sat on the couch, his head drooping.  He could have sworn Vickie saw him.  He guessed he was wrong.  "W- Well, how are you doing?"

"Good."  Vickie answered.  She was starting to hate the fact that Jinki had visited her, no matter how hard she was trying to be happy about it.  "Better than before."

Jinki couldn't find the words.  Vickie might have meant she was feeling better than before, when the excruciating headache struck her, but he couldn't help but think of another thing that could relate to 'better than before.'  Does she mean she's feeling better than when we were in a relationship?  he thought.  Nevertheless, it pained his head to even think about, so he just brushed it off.

"Good."  That was all he could say.

And as expected, the worst kind of silence surrounded that certain hospital bedroom.  The air blowing out of the air conditioner, the constant dripping of the glucose substance in the dextrose bag, and the almost-forced breathing of the two people were the only noises heard in the room.  It was like a life-or-death situation; no one dared to say a thing, for they feared it would cause something terrible to happen to the other person.  Very pitiful; they were both waiting on each other for almost nothing.

"So how have you been?"  Vickie asked, shortly turning her head to Jinki's direction, only to turn back to the window when the latter looked up, bewildered that she was the first one to break the silence.

Jinki continued to look in her direction, however.  "I've been great.  Stressed out, most of the time, but I can handle it."  He paused.  "I think."

"Sounds good,"  Vickie said, attempting to look Jinki in the eye when she turned her head but miserably failed to do so.  She stared at her white blanket that was covering her legs as a result.

"How about you?"  Jinki asked.  He was still focused on Vickie, surprised himself that he was able to do it for more than five seconds.

"Been undergoing some stuff for my leukemia."  Vickie said.  "I think I'm going to start the therapy tomorrow, then a transplant after that."

That was all that was needed for Jinki to break out into a muffled weep session.  "Vickie, I'm really, really sorry.  I'm sorry if you had to go through all this because of me.  It's my fault I didn't return that last letter you wrote to me; I'm sorry because I let work get in the way of us when everything was going right.  I'm so sorry..."

After hearing the painstakingly quiet sobs, Vickie rapidly turned to Jinki.  Her eyes were plain as they looked at him intently.  "Jinki..."

Jinki didn't even notice Vickie's soft but swift movement of getting out of her bed, walking to the couch where he was sitting.  She had barely taken off the dextrose that was taped on the back of her hand, two pieces of tape still left stuck on it.  She didn't care.  She just wanted to stop the boy she always loved from crying.

"Hey."  She said softly, kneeling down and placing her hands on his knees.  "Hey, don't cry."

A weird feeling filled Jinki's stomach.  Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?  Wasn't it the guy who was supposed to calm the girl down?  He felt quite feminine at the moment, but that wasn't what was in his mind.  Vickie just told him to not cry, but he did the opposite.  It made him feel stubborn compared to his age.

"I'm just...  I'm really, really, sor—"

"Shhh."  Vickie put her index finger up to her lip, signaling Jinki to stop apologizing.  She brought her finger down and smiled,  "It's none of your fault.  Don't say sorry."

The once small eyes of Jinki were now enlarged, not to its fullest, but enough to send a message that indicated he didn't quite understand what was going on.  The smile on Vickie's face didn't vanish, which sent him into a deeper confusion as he looked straight into her glistening eyes.

And when Vickie ascended herself slowly without removing her eyes away from Jinki's, lessening the littlest of centimeters in between their faces, all the confusion faded and all that mattered was the nostalgic taste of their lips together after eight years.

OMG

AGAIN

I CAN'T

ANYMORE

NOPE NOPE JUMPING OUT OF A WINDOW

OMG

WELP

THANK YOU GUYS FOR READING